topic Activating Inactive Credit Account in General Credit Topics

Activating Inactive Credit Account

Sneakytiki — Tue, 19 Aug 2014 14:04:29 GMT

I'm in the process of rebuilding my credit. Everything is caught up but I found an old Victoria Secret Angel card that my wife must have opened up 4 or 5 years ago on my reports. It hasn't reported activity since 2010 and it has no negative marks.

I probably should have asked first but I only have 19-21 accounts listed on my report. Only 9 of which are open. So I ordered a replacement card and told her to spend $150 in order to get it active. It only has a $500 limit so I'm paying most of it off the this month and the rest over a few months.

I was just curious as to what kind of score impact this would have.....If any. I have 10 accounts with lates on them at some point, 4 of which are charge offs from 2010-2011(3 are paid, in the process of GW) the 4th never went to collections and I can't find who to pay. Plus 2 paid collections from 2010-2011 I'm trying to remove through GW.

I just need more positive accounts and this seemed like a good place to jump to after getting 2 USAA Secured Cards. Plus my history is only averaging 5 years.

Re: Activating Inactive Credit Account

H14 — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 07:39:51 GMT

Putting any amount of money on it, say $5, and letting the statement close should get it reporting as active again. No need to put $150 or anything that you can't pay off as soon as it reports.

Re: Activating Inactive Credit Account

takeshi74 — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 12:52:31 GMT

@Sneakytiki wrote:
I was just curious as to what kind of score impact this would have.....

It's difficult to say even knowing the details of your credit however derogs always have a much bigger impact.

Re: Activating Inactive Credit Account

Sneakytiki — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 21:17:25 GMT

Well she did it, I appreciate the replies. She spent the money, I already paid it down to $50 and set up a couple more payments for the next couple months to pay it off. Hopefully it helps my reports, even if it's minor. Maybe ill get a CLI out of it in 6 months or so.